luke skywalker writing blog

You were currently in the repair hangar perched on top of a Blue Squadron X-Wing trying to fix its faulty hyperdrive, your grey overalls and padded snow jacket covered in oil and grime. This was the third time this hyperdrive had packed in this week, and now the task of repairing it again had been assigned to you. You’d been at it all morning; removing parts, dismantling parts, putting them back together with your hypdrospanner or replacing them entirely, trying to get the ship back in full working order.

Your hands, which were gloveless as it was the only way you could reach and grab smaller components in tight spaces, were freezing which only made the job more difficult. Why High Command couldn't have chosen to establish their new headquarters on a planet with a tropical climate instead, you had no idea.

"You're still working on that hyperdrive, Y/L/N?" You looked down to the hangar floor to see the unimpressed face of the base’s Chief Technician glaring up at you.

You swallowed nervously and assured him, "I'm almost done, sir."

But that answer wasn't satisfactory, "Do you think if the Empire were to find this base they'd give us a fair chance and wait around until our ships were in working order before launching an attack? No - so get a move on!"

"Yes, sir." you nodded, your voice quiet and heart pounding.

Shaking his head as he stormed off, the older man left you to it. You sighed, returning to your work. Miserable git, you thought to yourself. He'd been getting on at you and the other technicians even more so than usual, probably because of the huge backlog of repairs yet to be done due to the missing equipment. Just a few days ago he'd called you 'useless' for being a minute late for your shift. You were exhausted from all the overtime you’d been doing recently, which was why you’d slept in, but that wasn’t a good enough excuse - he’d made that clear when he threatened you with disciplinary action if it happened again.

Knowing it'd only be a matter of time before he came back and gave you another earful, you quickened your pace, trying to get this hyperdrive fixed as soon as possible. However, just as you were going to install a new coupling, in your haste your hand grazed against the edge of some sharp metal inside the hyperdrive bay.

"Ah fuck!" you seethed as you dropped the coupling and clutched your injured hand, the gash across your palm beginning to bleed. Great, what next? Quickly grabbing a rag from inside your jacket pocket you crudely wrapped it around your hand, biting down hard on your bottom lip to stop yourself from emitting a very loud string of curse words, before climbing down the ship's ladder and going to find help.

Half an hour later you were sat on a bed in the base's med bay, your hand being tended to by one of the Alliance's medical droids. You zoned out on your boots and the sterile white floor beneath them as 2-1B finished stitching up your wound, occasionally wincing in pain when it hurt most. You couldn't believe you'd made such a rookie mistake. You were an experienced technician; in the Alliance long enough that you could probably take apart an X-Wing and put it back together with your eyes closed. You could only imagine the lecture you were going to receive from the Chief Techie about your carelessness, probably in the middle of the main hangar for everyone to witness.

But you could hardly focus on that. Sitting here, you could feel the exhaustion of the last few weeks washing over you, your mind drifting a million parsecs away. Being in the Alliance was always hard work - you had signed up for it - that wasn’t the problem. It was the frayed patience’s of your colleagues, the gruelling extra hours and being stuck on a frozen hellscape which didn’t help general morale one bit.

You were brought back to reality by 2-1B talking you through the aftercare of your wound and to return in a week to have your stitches removed. Thanking the medical droid for his aid, you hopped down from the bed and left the med bay, sighing quietly as you walked through Echo Base’s maze of underground tunnels.

༻❁༺

You couldn't return to duty until your hand had begun to heal so you retreated to your quarters for the rest of the evening. Your roommate was working a late shift which meant you had the room to yourself, a fact you were quite happy about as the last thing you wanted to do after today's events was socialise. You were laying there in your bunk reading a holobook absentmindedly when there was a knock at the door.

Getting out of your bunk and padding over to the entrance to your room, you worried about who it might be. Pressing the button to open it, the hydraulic door whooshed open to reveal your best friend Luke, still dressed in his orange flight suit, “Hey!”

Your eyes widened in both surprise and joy, “Luke!" you practically jumped into the boy’s arms, “I wasn’t expecting to see you till next week - when did you get back?”

“About five minutes ago. The mission was over sooner than planned.” Luke laughed, hugging you back. He was about to pull away but your arms around him didn’t loosen. You closed your eyes as an unexpected wave of emotions hit you, compelling you to hold him just that little bit longer. The pilot didn’t question it, he just rubbed your back comfortingly as the two of you continued to embrace.

Luke had been on a relief mission with his squadron to the Eriadu system for two weeks. It was always hard to watch him leave on long missions, being as close as you were, not knowing if you’d see him again. This time though, what with everything going on, it had been even harder, “I’m so glad you’re back.” you mumbled into his shoulder before finally letting him go.

“So am I,” Luke gave you that sweet smile which always made your heart flutter. However, his cheerful expression immediately changed to one of concern when he noticed your bandages, “Hold on, what happened to your hand?”

Taking your injured hand gently in his, you reassured him, “Oh, that? Stupid mistake while fixing an X-Wing today. Just a couple of stitches - I’ll live.”

“Still, must be painful,” Luke grimaced, “You sure you’re okay?”

You nodded, "It’s actually not that bad. Those medical droids patched me right up, and the painkillers I was given have been taking the edge off. If the pain gets worse, I can always take enough to completely knock myself out - then I won’t feel a thing.” you joked.

“Yeah, maybe don’t do that,” Luke chuckled, running his thumb over the back of your bandaged hand, his eyes softening, “I really missed you, Y/N.”

You pushed your emotions down into the pit of your stomach, giving him a wavering smile, “I missed you too.”

Carefully letting go of your hand, Luke gestured to the door, “The squad and some of the others on base are having a couple of drinks to celebrate the success of the mission. You’ll be joining us, right?”

Your smile had faltered almost completely, “I dunno, Luke. As much as I’d like to, I’m just not…feeling it tonight.”

You hoped your friend wouldn’t pick up that something else was wrong, but Luke knew you too well. He stepped forward again, “Are you sure there’s nothing else bothering you? You don’t seem…yourself?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Honest. I’m just tired…that-that’s all…” Before you could stop it from happening, a lone tear rolled down your cheek. Embarrassed, you quickly wiped it away and avoided eye contact with the boy in front of you.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” Luke moved closer, cupping your chin to encourage you to look up at him, the gentle act just making it harder not to completely fall apart.

“I’m-I’m sorry, I dunno where that came from," you managed to utter with a shaky voice as you waved your hand dismissively, "Just ignore me, I’m being an idiot.”

“No, you’re not. C’mon, sit down.” the pilot coaxed softly, bringing you over to the edge of your bed and sitting you down. You’d managed to stop more tears - for now. But the way Luke was looking at you, with those blue eyes filled with such care and concern, you knew you’d be struggling to keep them at bay. Sitting down beside you, he ran his hand up and down the side of your arm, “What’s going on?”

As much as you wanted to bottle it up and insist that you were fine, there wasn't much point. You knew that if you really didn’t want to go into detail, Luke would understand, but he was your best friend - he was the last person you'd want to lie to.

“It's nothing, it’s just…these last few weeks, as you know, have been so hectic. I think the stress is just getting to me a bit, that’s all.”

"You wanna talk about it? Only if you want to, of course." Luke asked. It never failed to amaze you just how kind the former farmboy was. His aunt, who he rarely talked about but from what you'd gathered from past conversations was like a mother to him, had done an outstanding job raising him, that was for sure.

You sighed quietly, “Well, the Chief Techie has been on my case, but that’s nothing new.”

Luke scoffed at the mention of his name, well aware of how he could be from the many stories you had told him, “Asshole.”

“Agreed,” you replied, “He’s been relentless recently. No matter what we do, or how fast we work, it’s not good enough for him. He had a go at me today for taking too long on a task. That’s how I made that mistake and injured myself - because I was rushing.” you looked down at your bandaged hand, “Still, I should have been more careful.”

“Are you being serious? Y/N, that’s not okay,” Luke stated, his voice stern, “I can mention this to Command, if you want?”

That brought an amused smile to your face, “Of course, I forget - you have the power to do that now, Commander Skywalker.” you emphasised the title of his new rank.

“I’m not looking for a power trip opportunity,” Luke rolled his eyes and nudged your arm, “I’m trying to look out for you.”

“I know you are, Luke,” you reached over and took his hand in your uninjured one, “And I’m grateful for that, but it’s not just him. I haven’t mentioned it before but…I’ve not been feeling like myself for a while now,” tears began to well in your eyes, “I’ve been trying to stay positive, brush it off as fatigue but, I dunno, I’ve just been feeling so…useless lately. Like I can’t do anything right. And after these last couple of weeks, I think I might be starting to believe it.”

Before you could stop it from happening, tears began to stream down your cheeks as you covered your mouth to silence a quiet sob.

“Hey, come here. Come here.” Luke said softly as he immediately moved closer and wrapped his arms around you, pulling you into him. Letting the floodgates open, you cried into the pilot's chest. Luke rested his chin on top of your head as he held you tightly, one hand rubbing your shoulder; the other gently combing through your hair, "You're not useless, Y/N. I've never met anyone more knowledgeable and hard-working as you - and I'm not just saying that because you're my friend. Please don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

You couldn't even respond due to your outpour of emotions so you just closed your eyes and sank further into him, his body warmth which radiated against you welcoming against the cold air of Echo Base. He smelled faintly of hyperfuel and standard-issue soap, and you knew that if you weren’t so upset you’d probably be blushing furiously at your close proximity. Your feelings towards Luke had grown from that of friendship to something more a while ago, and while you suspected he might feel the same, neither of you had dared to make a move out of fear of ruining the relationship you already had. You were fond of the farmboy’s company and the bond you shared, it was too precious a thing to risk losing. But that didn’t stop your gaze from falling to his lips when he spoke to you, or your heart from skipping a beat when you made him laugh and your mind from wandering; lost in tender thoughts about what could be. After a while, your tears began to cease.

"I’m so sorry, Luke. You’ve been back all of ten minutes and you've already had to deal with this.” you managed to say between stuttered breaths, fearing you'd made a complete fool of yourself and your friend uncomfortable.

“Don’t be silly, there’s no need to apologise. If anyone should, it’s me,” You looked up at him confused, “I’m sorry you’ve been going through this, Y/N. I want you to know that if you need someone to talk to, vent to, or cry to,” he reached over and gently wiped away the last remaining tears away from your reddened cheeks, “No matter what, even if I’m away on a mission, I’ll be at the other end of that comlink as soon as I can. I’ll be there for you - always.”

You smiled gratefully, “Thank you, Luke.”

Smiling back, the pilot hesitated slightly before leaning in and placing a kiss on your forehead, the loving act surprising you as he’d never done anything like that before. You looked at each other for a moment after. Neither of you said anything because you didn’t know what to say, but luckily you didn’t have to - what could be read in your eyes said more than enough. The two of you would talk about it later as the sound of Luke’s said comlink interrupted the silence.

“That’s Wedge wondering where I am.” Luke said as he started getting up, “You sure you won’t come along, even just for a bit?”

You thought about it for a moment, now feeling a hundred times better than you did the first time he’d asked, “You know what? I will actually," you smiled and put on your boots, "Only if Han's there, though. Is the Falcon still here?"

"Yeah, it was there when I walked through the main hangar, I don't think him and Chewie are leaving till the morning," Luke gave you a curious look as he helped you put your heavy snow jacket on when he noticed you struggling one-handed, "Why?"

"Because I need cheering up and he's great entertainment after a few drinks," you explained, "It's like he has a complete personality transplant!"

Luke laughed at your comment as the hydraulic door opened and the two of you left your quarters, "Don't let him hear you say that."